flashware

If it's only a 5-10 minute schedule change, then unlikely. How much has the schedule changed?

slowly

20 min. Would it be possible if the changes was more significant or going from US off-peak to StarAlliance always requires repricing?

ejh25

Call and ask but for a 20 min time change, it's hard to make your case. Even if they re-price it might be worth it. Depending how long your trip is, the connections can eat into your vacation time and exhaust u.

eponymous_coward

I would think they will reprice it, as US has to cut a check to AC for any award booking using AC flights, but they don't have to cut a check to themselves for their own flights- which is why the US offpeak awards are cheaper than *A awards...

shaggy_mutt

Off-peak saver meaning 35k Y / 60k C? Believe that's on US metal only, if I'm not mistaken. But if that's not the case, please correct me - would love to go overseas on LH for 60k in C!

ejh25

It's US metal only.

rayoflight

After reading the first and last 10 pages of this thread, I am still somewhat confused on the routing rules for award ticket... Your feedback would be welcome :-)

I am trying to get from HKG to the US via Europe. I am actually SIN based, however I only have enough for a 90k mile J ticket out of North Asia and not for the 120k out of SIN.

Having done my homework, I spoke with a very nice agent at US, who confirmed availability on all the following segments: HKG-SIN-IST (12 hour mini-sightseeing stop)-ATH (stopover)-PHL-SFO (destination) -PEK-SIN-HKG.

Then, when she tried to "price" this, she came back after a long hold; She was trying her best but said this could not get the system to accept this because the routing exceeded the "maximum of 4 segments on the outbound". So asked her to change it to HKG-IST-... instead of HKG-SIN-IST... and that worked. She put the reservation was on hold (I could see it online), however she said this would be 120k miles because i pass through SIN on the way back to HKG. After changing ...-SFO-PEK-SIN-HKG to ...-SFO-YVR-HKG, it priced out at 90k.

While i am already quite happy with the routing, i would prefer to go through SIN. Hence my questions before I get this issued:
* Is there a 4 segment maximum of for both the outbound and the return or is it 8 segments overall?
* Would routing through SIN on the way back to HKG indeed cause this to price at 120k miles instead of 90k miles? Not quite sure how to interpret the quoted statement in this context: "Mileage is charged based on the most "expensive" transited region". Realize i may be pushing my luck a bit with this routing...

Thanks for your advice :-)

eponymous_coward

FYP. We're not rookies here.

My guess is that SFO-PEK-SIN-HKG isn't anything remotely close to a *A published routing for SFO-HKG- you could probably get away with SFO-PEK/ICN/TYO/KIX-HKG no problem, but going PEK, then SIN, then HKG adds over 3,000 miles to the nonstop.

You can use the *A routing tool on the *A website, plug in two cities, and it will show you routings. This will give you a good idea of routings that US won't consider very outlandish- for instance, Europe-BKK-HKG will show as a listed routing, so there's usually not a problem routing a North Asia award to HKG through BKK. I believe US uses this tool to help suggest routings...

michael_v

Does the computer auto-price an award or the agent?

charlesswe

From my experience, they seem to just put in A and B in the system and it comes up with the amount of miles, the actual route taken from A to B does not affect the pricing unless the agent actually pays attention to it.

RMINIONE

Other than the taxes and $75 last minute fee are there any issues in booking a award that leaves in <24 hours? Found a flight on KVS leaves tomorrow and the return is open as well.

buschoi

Which US Airways call center did you call? Call centers outside the US are usually more compatible and will more likely follow through with the restrictions.

nicksname

After flicking through the Dividend Miles pages and membership, I can't seem to find anything which defines the countries/territories within each region. Being a big fan of "creative" routing, a document containing this list would be extremely helpful. Not to mention the ease at which we could point to this document when a CSR prices an award flight incorrectly.

The closest thing to such a list that I can find is on the Partner Award Travel and Star Alliance Award Upgrade documents. The documents define the regions as:

The other regions of USA & Canada, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mexico & Central America and South America are easily defined, without too much controversy or debate. However, I have not been able to find definitions for the remaining regions (Europe, Middle East, Africa and the South Pacific).

As these regions are not easily defined (e.g. I hear Russia was moved from the North Asia region to the Europe region), it would be great if there was a document somehwere which we could refer to when planning our award travel.

I swear I have seen such a document before, but I haven't been able to find it again! Am I missing something?

Any help with finding such a document, or providing information as to the definitions of the regions (as defined by US Airways) would be appreciated!

TIA

rayoflight

I did not particularly want to fly from SFO to SIN via PEK, but that was the only routing with availability. I checked the *A website you suggested, which even shows SFO-PEK-PVG-SIN-HKG as a routing. Assuming then that that is not the problem, what is causing this to "price" at 120k miles instead of 90k miles if i fly via SIN? Any ideas? Or is this an decision of the agent that could be resolved with a call back?

Buschoi - In response to your question -- I called the US call center.

Air Rarotonga

I don't think it's necessary that every country is listed to which zone it belongs. i.ex. to what zones should Nigeria, Brazil or Saudi Arabia belong to? Should be clear to everyone! I guess little geography knowledge is a requirement, before you even plan to book a flight abroad.